E

2 December - 10 December

New Zealand

Professor Iain McCalman, Co-director of the Sydney Environment Institute, will be visiting New Zealand over the next two weeks to give the 2015 New Zealand Aronui Lecture for the Royal Society of New Zealand.

Professor McCalman will share his Great Barrier Reef tales as part of his lecture, ‘Great Barrier Reef Passions – why history stories matter’.

“Over time, human encounters with the dazzling 2,300-kilometre swathe of corals, islands and lagoons have evoked passionate, if diverse, responses which are shaping the reactions of the reef communities of today. In this lecture I’d like to share some of these passionate ‘Reef’ stories,” Professor McCalman says.

Royal Society of New Zealand President Professor Richard Bedford says the annual New Zealand Aronui Lecture, organised by the Society, celebrates the study of human life and culture.

“We are delighted to be able to bring to audiences in New Zealand a speaker who embodies the spirit of the New Zealand Aronui lecture. Rather than a talk that focuses on the Reef itself, Professor McCalman is interested in what the Reef has meant to the people whose lives it has touched. I have no doubt it will be a fascinating and inspiring talk.”

Information from the Royal Society of New Zealand

Details of the talks are:

Hamilton | 7pm Wednesday 2 December
Te Whare Tapere Iti , Gallagher Academy of Performing Arts, University of Waikato

Wellington | 7.30pm Thursday 3 December
Soundings Theatre, Te Papa

Dunedin | 6pm Tuesday 8 December
Hutton Theatre, Otago Museum, Great King Street

Nelson | 7.30pm Wednesday 9 December
THOMAS CAWTHRON MEMORIAL LECTURE
Rutherford Hotel Conference Centre, Nile Street, Nelson

Auckland | 6pm Thursday 10 December
Events Centre, Auckland Museum, The Domain, Parnell

Find out more about the lecture series

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Media coverage of the event:

‘The Great Barrier Reef: A human history’, Radio New Zealand National, 25 November 2015

‘Passionate stories of the Great Barrier Reef – lecture tour’, Scoop Independent News, 23 November 2015

‘Adapting positively to environmental change’, stuff.co.nz, 11 December 2015

Image: Greens MPs ‘Schooling fairy basslets’ via Flickr Commons